Wealthy Investors Shifting Investments from Real Estate to Stocks

The preferred asset for investment among South Korea's high-net-worth individuals has changed from real estate to stocks. Analysts suggest that the recent bullish stock market performance has influenced this shift, with stocks now surpassing real estate, which held the top spot in investors' portfolios for a long time. According to KB Financial Group's '2026 KB Real Estate Report,' stocks were the most favored investment asset by high-net-worth individuals as of 2025, accounting for 34%, while real estate came in second at 23%. This change in investment preference is analyzed to be related to the trend of asset holders increasing their allocation to stocks, which offer higher expected returns, instead of real estate, in the current sustained bull market.

In contrast, individual investors, moving against the market uptrend, net purchased ETFs betting on index declines, such as 'KODEX 200 Futures Inverse 2X,' worth 542.5 billion won in April. During the same period, as the KOSPI index surged by 30.6%, these products recorded losses in the -40% range.

As of May 2026, the balance of credit transactions in the domestic stock market stood at 35.7 trillion won, with customer deposits at 94 trillion won. The ratio of credit to deposits remained around 38%, appearing stable compared to past overheated periods. This figure is stable compared to the 50% in October 2007 and 46.3% in 2018, which were periods of stock market overheating. Although it showed a slight increase compared to 36.75% in July 2021, it was considered a manageable level given the overall increase in fund size. The 94 trillion won in deposits indicates abundant funds on standby ready to enter the stock market.